Gene Swartz lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin when he joined the United States Marine Corp at age 17. He proudly served as a tanker in the Korean War and was honorably discharged in 1953. After his military service, Gene answered a newspaper ad looking for solicitors to help with the Home Juice Company. Paid $1.00 for every new customer, he solicited home delivery of assorted juices in ½ gallon jugs. As the beginning of a new adventure, this would mark the first of many door-to-door deliveries Gene would make.

By 1963, Gene had developed 23 home delivery routes between Kenosha and Milwaukee, Wisconsin as well as Chicago, Illinois. Noticing the lack of home delivery in the Washington, DC area, Gene moved his family and one delivery truck in order to begin expanding on the East Coast. Building routes in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland under the name Chicago Home Juice. In February, 1977, he and his eldest son Brock, bought the franchise from the Everfresh Juice Company and established Swartz and Sons Distributors trading as Everfresh Juice Company.
 

Swartz and Sons Distributors has since grown into the largest, family-owned and operated non-alcoholic beverage distributor in the region.